It may be tempting to change your investments in the Thrift Savings Plan after stocks took a dive today in the first day of trading since the S&P downgraded American debt.

But the majority of TSP participants are not jumping to action, said Tom Trabucco, director of external affairs for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

“Most people are reacting as they should, under the old adage: Don’t just do something, stand there,” Trabucco said.

Trabucco said FRTIB did notice more interfund transfers in the past few days.

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“People are getting a little bit anxious,” Trabucco said. “They’ve been holding on until now.”

A typical day sees 4-5,000 interfund transfers and sometimes as high as 9-10,000, he said. Last Wednesday, there were 12,000 interfund transfers, 11,000 on Thursday and 25,000 on Friday and the weekend, Trabucco said.

The bulk of these transfers was movement into the G Fund, he said.

“If you’re not using something like the L Fund or an allocation you are carefully monitoring to balance your risk at a level at which you’re comfortable, then these jolts can really send you reeling,” Trabucco said.

“When you think what money is, it’s our financial freedom to allow us to do whatever we want with our lives, whatever is important,” Roth said. “When we see that nest egg shrink dramatically – and it’s shrunk 19 percent in stocks over the last 11 trading days – it hurts; it causes a lot of pain.”

He added, “The human reaction to pain is to try to make it stop, and the one way to make it stop is to get out of the C, S and I and run to the G Fund. It’s the wrong thing to do, but it’s a natural human reaction.”

Francis Rose is the host of In Depth, which airs weekdays from 4-7 p.m. on 1500 AM in the Washington, DC metro area and online everywhere. Francis has covered all three branches of the federal government as a broadcast journalist since 1998. He joined Federal News Radio in 2006, and launched In Depth in 2008 as a daily show focused on connecting federal executives to the information they need to do their jobs better.